


all we need is just a little patience

by janie_tangerine



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Coming Out, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, Jon Snow knows something, M/M, Pining, R plus L equals J, Robb Stark is a Gift, Slow Burn, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, past/referenced theon/ramsay but very lightly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 11:06:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13145370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janie_tangerine/pseuds/janie_tangerine
Summary: in which Robb and Theon figure out that they're into each other after Robb's siblings andtheirbest friends get together.





	all we need is just a little patience

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cotton_socks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cotton_socks/gifts).



> sooo this was written for this year's throbb secret santa @ averythrobbxmas on tumblr, for the prompt _Featuring Jon/Sam or Sansa/JeyneP as a secondary pairing. Robb and/or Theon reassess their feelings and relationship based on observing Jon or Sansa's feelings for their own best friend_ , plus I snuck in _Robb has been pining for Theon for a long time, but hasn't tried anything because he thinks Theon is only interested in women. He is fairly content with the way things are... until Theon makes a comment about finding Jon attractive_ though it's a minor part of it. Also, I figured WHY NOT and went for both Jon/Sam and Sansa/Jeyne because WHY NOT both neglected sideships ;) and idek what is this ridiculous fluff but I hope you like it, and merry Christmas to you of course :D and thanks for giving me the chance to indulge also with two ships I love but don't get as much attention as they deserve. ;)
> 
> Also, as usual: nothing belongs to me except for the fluff, the title is from Guns n' Roses and if anyone belonged to me do you think they'd suffer as much? NO THEY WOULDN'T. ;)

 

1.

 

When his sister clears her throat just before dinner and says she has _something to tell them all_ , in a small voice and looking like she’s not so sure of how they might take them, Robb can’t help feeling worried.

Honestly, after the last six months in which she made friends with Margaery Tyrell and her crowd _and_ dropped them _but_ spent those six months pretending she didn’t know them or felt ashamed to be related to them, _and_ was in her first relationship, with _Joffrey Baratheon,_ and the asshole dumped her when she wouldn’t put out, Robb has all the rights to feel worried about it.

For a moment, all the worst-case scenarios run in front of him.

Joffrey might have spread some rumors about her in school. Or Margaery might have, and maybe her life is being hell right now. Or they might have had sex without protection _before_ they broke it off, even if Sansa _did_ say that they broke it off _because she didn’t feel ready_ and he was pressuring her, and his sister’s almost sixteen and she _could_ be pregnant or gotten an STD, after all. Or they might have convinced her to something illegal - which from what Robb remembers of Joffrey-as-a-kid is entirely likely. Or -

Maybe he should just stop assuming that and just… wait. But shit, Sansa looks so uncomfortable he can’t imagine how bad it has to be. He already feels guilty enough for not having tried to discourage her from dating _Joffrey_ when Robb’s always known he was a little shit since their fathers tried to get them to be friends for a few years when they were younger and then gave up on it when he punched Joffrey because he told Robb he was _lowering himself_ by hanging out with Theon - he _could_ have tried to warn her.

Then again, she wouldn’t have listened, and she _did_ tell him she wouldn’t have when he told her he was sorry for not having told her exactly how bad Joffrey was, but still -

He’s fucking worried.

So, everyone is staring at her encouragingly, and she’s staring at her napkin, and then she looks up and says -

“Uh, Jeyne and I are together.”

From the baffled expressions on everyone’s face, they were all expecting as badly as Robb was because his parents look perplexed and Arya does, too, and Bran and Rickon even more than the two of them. Jon is out with his friends so he’s not there to be baffled along with them, but _that_ was also not the reaction _Sansa_ had expected most probably.

“Uh,” Arya says, “you’re _always_ together? I mean at least you’ve been for the last four months, I don’t get -”

“No,” Sansa interrupts her, “I mean _together together_ , not… just… being friends. Like, _girlfriends_.”

Ah.

 _Ah_ , okay, that would make sense, Robb thinks, and then as Sansa looks all over again like she’s expecting them to have a problem with it, as he’s done a lot of time in his life, he speaks before actually thinking it over.

“… And why do you look like everyone’s going to murder you for it?” He blurts, not trying to hide how actually relieved he feels that _she’s dating her best friend since she was four_ rather than _whatever horrible thing_ he was bracing himself for.

“He’s right,” their father says, looking equally relieved. “I mean - she’s been around for years, her father’s a friend, she’s a lovely girl, why would you think we’d have a problem with _that_?”

“If it was because of how much we didn’t like you dating Joffrey, that’s because it’s _Joffrey_ ,” their mom says, sounding _again_ utterly relieved of it. “The problem was that you were dating _him_ , not that you were _dating_.”

“So what,” Arya says, “you looked like you were about to confess a murder. Fine. You two are together. As if you didn’t hold hands all the time before.”

“Robb holds hands with Theon and they aren’t together, though,” Bran says, and Robb feels like dying inside because _of course_ Bran had to mention _that_ and remind Robb that he’s been pining after Theon for an embarrassing amount of time and that he only gets away with it because Theon apparently has no issues when it comes to _him_ doing it and Robb’s fairly touchy-feely with enough people that it doesn’t look _weird_.

Arya rolls her eyes so theatrically, Robb wonders why she doesn’t try acting as a career. She’d be good at it.

“ _Whatever_ , that’s not the point. The point is that no one’s gonna murder you for being with a woman.”

Sansa’s face suddenly recovers some color.

Robb can see that both his parents are still perplexed.

“Uh, Sansa,” their father says, “just - was it that Jeyne’s a woman?”

“Er, yes?”

At that, _everyone_ else, Rickon included - who until now had been ignoring that conversation because his Iron Man comic book was definitely more interesting - looks at her as if she’s grown two heads _now_.

“Sansa,” Arya says, “why would any of us give a damn when our uncle has been together with _Jon’s godfather_ for the last ten years or so?”

“Uhm,” Sansa replies, and now she sounds kind of embarrassed at her own assumption, “it’s just, a few of Margaery’s friends kept on saying that when it came to men they had it easier when it comes to, well, not being straight, I guess, so a lot of people might be fine with it being men but not women, but - never mind. Saying out loud it does sound like complete nonsense.” She shrugs, obviously realizing herself that it was a completely whacked assumption.

“Good thing I didn’t have to say that,” their mom mutters, and Robb can bet money she’s remembering the not so happy times when no one in the family except _them_ and Uncle Edmure would talk to Uncle Brynden - good thing their grandfather and his aunt eventually got over it, but _it wasn’t_ a nice time whatsoever. Then she reaches out and takes Sansa’s hand. “Really. How long has it been?”

“A few weeks?” Sansa says. “We just - wanted to keep it quiet for a bit, to see if it worked out, but it _is_ , and so -”

“Good. Then as long as you’re happy we also are happy, all right? And that goes to all of you, if anyone needs to have this speech given to.”

Arya scoffs - as if she’d need that, Robb thinks. She’s defied all of their parents’s expectations when she was younger and got together with Gendry Waters in what, the last year of middle school, and a year later they’ve never argued once.

(After all, Sansa’s only other experience was with Joffrey. Robb, a year before university, has been with some three girls steadily for maybe a few months and then stayed friends with Jeyne and hasn’t heard from all the others in a while, and he knows that it wasn’t just compatibility, it’s that _he’s been in love with Theon since forever_ and good thing Jeyne understood it at the beginning - good luck being in a relationship with that premise. And Jon’s never been with _anyone_ they know of or that he’s told them, so Arya’s turning out to be the one with the better adjusted romantic life in between all of them, which no one might have imagined ten years ago, so of course she’s scoffing.)

Bran shrugs and says nothing - he’s probably thinking that it’s good to have the option _but_ he’s also had a crush on Meera Reed since they were in _kindergarten_ together and Robb is fairly sure that if he doesn’t put a move on her after they’re done with middle school _she_ will, so he probably doesn’t need that speech, and Rickon definitely cares more about Iron Man than girls or whatever.

Well, good thing that if he ever manages to fess to Theon no one will have a problem with _that_ \- hell, they did stop trying to force him and Joffrey to make friends _and_ they did come to the realization that Joffrey was a piece of shit after the whole hanging-out-with-Theon-is-beneath-you nonsense, so they’d probably be okay with it.

Too bad that Theon’s not interested in men right now as far as Robb knows and he has entirely good reasons, so it’s not even an option.

And _then_ Sansa sniffs and breaks out crying in pure relief and Robb, who was sitting next to her, puts an arm around her shoulders, and thinks, _at least I was completely wrong_.

And if it’s not _him_ getting together with _his_ best friend, fine. He’ll live with it.

\--

“So,” Theon asks him a few days later, “has Sansa told you?”

“That she and Jeyne are together?” Robb replies. “Yeah, but _how_ did you know?”

Theon sends him a _look_ , then seems to realize that there’s something Robb _might not know_.

“Because _Jeyne_ told me. But you couldn’t know that.”

“Wait, _what_?”

“Er, well, during those six months when Sansa basically pretended they never knew each other because Margaery Tyrell And Her Crowd wouldn’t have appreciated, she was feeling like shit because she thought Sansa hated her for, like, a legitimate reason, and - er, just, I never told you what I’m about to tell you, all right?”

“… All right?”

“Ramsay Bolton _might_ have tried to hit on her one evening when she was supposed to meet Sansa at their usual bar and she didn’t show up.”

“ _What_?”

Given that Bolton did the same with Theon a few years ago and they had a thing for a few months at the end of which Theon was a total wreck and Robb wanted to murder the guy with his bare hands, Robb just hopes it went nowhere.

“I _know_. Anyway, she was trying to make him desist, he wouldn’t, she saw me walking outside that bar, ran out, asked me to play along with it, pretended she was there to see me and asked me to bring her somewhere else. I did, obviously, because I’m not _that_ kind of asshole, and she made me swear I wouldn’t tell anyone, so I didn’t, but - we’ve seen each other a few times in those six months and she keeps me updated.”

“So she told you -”

“That she and Sansa were a thing? Yeah, but she told me as soon as they got together because she had also told me she had been carrying a torch for your sister for years, so I couldn’t be surprised.”

… Now a lot of things make sense, Robb thinks, including how devastated Jeyne had looked like in those six months whenever they ran into each other.

“That - that makes sense,” Robb replies. “Anyway, yeah, she told us. She was worrying about really ridiculous shit like any of us disapproving because Jeyne’s a _woman_ , but like, who cares? I mean, if they’re happy then they’re happy. And given that she got that idea hanging out with the _popular crowd_ I’m just really happy that I never was even tempted to join the football team.”

“As if, you wouldn’t have managed to share vital space with any of those pricks for more than ten minutes before you told them to fuck off.”

Given that the school’s football team includes Joffrey and some three of Walder Frey’s great-nephews, Robb is _entirely_ sure that Theon has the right of it. He wouldn’t have.

“Whatever. Popularity’s crap. And Jon hangs out with _everyone_ who’s not popular and has more of a social life than I do, what do I know?”

Theon snorts and tells him that quality’s better than quantity - which is true, and good thing Theon and _his_ Jeyne really get along even if she’s been threatening to tell Theon about Robb’s crush for _years_ , but then she never does it because she’s too nice and she wouldn’t out him like that.

She’s convinced it’d be returned, but - Robb thinks she reads too much chick-lit. Theon’s definitely not into him. It’s not going to happen.

But it’s fine as long as they have each other somewhat, he reasons, and laughs as he agrees that yes, he’d rather have _quality_.

 

2.

 

“Robb, do you have a moment?”

Robb, being done with his homework and currently not doing anything more time consuming than trying too coordinate ten people in order to buy Dacey Mormont’s collective birthday present, excuses himself from the chat and turns to look at Jon.

“Sure. What do you need?”

Jon, whose shoulders are looking kind of stiff right now, goes to sit next to him on Robb’s bed and Robb just hopes it’s nothing bad - from the way he’s holding himself, it looks like he’s bracing himself for a possibly uncomfortable conversation and Robb just hopes it’s nothing _bad_. _How_ would it be he doesn’t know because honestly Jon was the only one of them who somehow managed to keep the same friends from elementary school through now and they haven’t argued nor there has been a falling out as far as he knows, so it can’t be anything bad going on with _them_ , but still - could it be about _the other_ side of Jon’s family? He hopes not.

“Advice, I guess,” Jon says. “I mean, Arya told me how you were during Sansa’s, er, confession.”

“As in, wondering why the hell she thought her and Jeyne being a thing would make us angry?”

“Yeah. And I mean, I know I should probably ask Uncle Brynden, but -”

Robb knows that he’s not saying _but I’ve always asked you for anything else and it’d feel weird not doing it_ , or something along those lines. And - that’s true enough, after all since Jon came to live with them when he was five or so and after he decided Robb wasn’t faking genuinely considering him family he has come to _him_ for advice on anything before going to anyone else, so it does make sense he’d do the same now.

“Anyway,” Jon goes on, not finishing the previous sentence. “I’m - I like Sam. I mean, not just _like_ , but -”

“Like, you’re into him? The same way Sansa is into Jeyne?” _And the same way I’m into Theon_ , he doesn’t add.

“Uh, yeah. Like. I might have figured it out recently. I didn’t even know I was into guys until then for that matter.”

Robb wants to ask _why haven’t you told_ , but then again it’d be unfair. Jon’s _always_ told him things at his own pace and it’s not unheard of that he mulled on something for days or weeks before sharing, if he does. Also, he wants to say it was kind of obvious - those two have been best friends for years, less than him and Theon but long enough, and if they aren’t together they’re always more or less texting each other, and to be honest Robb’s kind of thought at least _Sam_ had a thing for Jon for months, though he’s never shared the suspicion, so it’s nothing surprising.

“Well,” Robb says, “you know no one would mind that, right?”

“I do,” Jon says, shaking his head. “It’s just, how the hell do I go about it? Because I mean, I know him well enough to guess that the first reaction he’d have would be thinking it was a joke or something.”

“Even coming from _you_?”

“… right, fair, but - I mean, I’ve seen enough of the proposals he gets. And that’s one thing. But just, should I even go for it?”

“Wait, _why_ shouldn’t you?”

“What if it makes things weird or if he’s not into me and it’s just - becomes awkward? I don’t want to make it awkward. And I could have asked Sansa but I don’t know if she’d want to hear me being doom and gloom about it when two weeks ago she was fretting about the whole lot of you not being fine with her and Jeyne.”

“Jon, before I tell you anything, are you aware that out of my three sort of serious relationships _one_ didn’t fail and it was because we were compatible as friends?”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Jon says, “you weren’t doing too bad at it.”

_Yeah, and then they all went downhill because I’m in love with my best friend and I’ve known for years so who am I even to give anyone advice about this?_

Still.

 _Still_ , Jon’s looking at him _hopefully_ and somehow in almost eighteen years Robb’s never given him shitty advice or so it seems, and he doesn’t have the heart to tell him that.

Never mind that, in this case, he thinks he can safely assume at least one thing.

“Go for it,” he finally says. “First thing, I’m fairly sure he _is_ into you.”

“ _What_?”

“Jon, you’ve never been great at picking that kind of hint but don’t worry, he _is_.”

“And do you know, _how_?”

_Because he looks at you the way I look at Theon when he’s not paying attention and I wish I hadn’t noticed because it’s kind of sad that I had to recognize myself in there._

“I have a hunch he might. Also, since when he’s ever held a grudge with anyone as far as I know? Come on, just have dinner with him or go to a movie or something and fess up.”

“That’s lame. Robb, seriously, I’ve _never_ fucking done this, just - how did you do it with Jeyne?”

Right. The only salvageable relationship he’s had, as far as Jon’s concerned.

He shakes his head.

“Well, it’s not _lame_. Let him pick the movie without complaining if you know you’d hate it, pay for everything and say you have some extra money and he can pay you back sometime if he protests, maybe pick a nice area where you can have dinner after, if you think he’d _like_ that you can throw in some flowers for _later_ when you’re having dinner and just, go for it. It did work with her, anyway. But when you fess up just - say something that he’d know you couldn’t joke about, if you’re _that_ worried about his reaction. But he won’t be.”

“It - it sounds foul-proof,” Jon says, smiling ever so slightly.

Robb doesn’t tell him that _no_ , Jeyne actually asked him out first, and _that_ was his plan for the day he found the courage to put a move on Theon, _if_ he ever did.

He had imagined paying Theon a ticket for one of those artsy indie movies he likes but never tells anyone but him about, then he’d have taken him to one of those fancy fusion restaurants Theon positively loves but almost never goes to, and he wouldn’t have gone for the flowers because they wouldn’t have been appreciated but surely a ticket for whichever play was on that he’d have enjoyed _would have been_ , and then he’d have told him everything, but he doesn’t know if he’ll ever have the guts, and anyway he’d rather go on like this than risk fucking things up monumentally.

Maybe if he shares his plans at least they _might_ help someone.

“It was for me. Just go for it and tell me how it went, all right?”

“Sure,” Jon tells him, already looking way less doom and gloom than before, and Robb hopes that at least for _one_ of them this entire deal goes through. After all, if it’s not an option for _him_ , it should be for Jon and there’s no point in being jealous of _both_ his siblings happily dating their _best friends_ (if Jon succeeds) while he and Jeyne have a pact that if neither of them has found someone better by the time they turn thirty they’ll just have a marriage of convenience so that she can stop living with her mom because she can’t afford to leave, and he can have someone he likes to share a flat with and shoulder the bills, if anything.

Christ, and Jon is asking _him_ for love advice.

He’ll laugh about this at some point in the future, he hopes.

\--

Thing is: it works. Or _whatever_ Jon did, whether he followed his advice or not, _did_ work, because a week later he’s telling them at dinner that he and Sam are dating _without_ looking like he might be murdered for it. The only reactions are heartfelt congratulations from Sansa, who immediately starts planning _all the double dates_ , Arya rolling her eyes and saying _finally, he’s been pining over you for years_ , Bran going like _well I’m happy for you_ before going back to texting Meera under the table and Rickon saying something about all of them being lame wasting time with relationships when they could play GTA with him instead. As in, nothing anyone wouldn’t have expected.

“Well,” his mother says, “I guess there’s still three of you who’d give us grandchildren.” Arya groans and tells her to _stop mentioning children already_ and Robb has to wonder, _why_ did she say three when technically it should be _four_? Well, she probably hasn’t included Rickon in the entire picture. He doubts children would come from _him_ , though.

He doubts it, a lot. But it’s not the time to mope, fuck’s sake, and so he says that he’d known for a week and he doesn’t need to fake being surprised, everyone else pretends to be outraged that Jon would tell _him_ on his own when they all know that it’s always worked like this, and that’s it.

Jon is obviously relieved at no one making a big deal out of it.

Robb can imagine why, and at the same time he thinks wistfully, _if only it could be so easy as far as I’m concerned_.

\--

“So,” Theon tells him, “did Jon finally fess up?”

“He might have,” Robb replied. “And hey, they were horribly cute before and they are _now_ , so what the hell, as long as they’re happy it’s all fine. Good thing they did fess up, though.”

Theon shrugs. “Well, can’t say that it wasn’t a long time coming. That said, Sam definitely got the shorter end of the stick.”

“Really?” Robb asks, without even pretending to sound outraged at Jon’s behalf - those two have been trading dibs at each other since they’ve _known_ each other, and it’s not surprising Theon would say that given that he and Sam are definitely not _close friends_ but they’ve met a fair amount of times given who they’re friends with, and he’s fairly sure they’ve had a few talks about how much their respective fathers suck ass and a few other shared interests.

“Really. I mean, Jon gets the nice guy with good comic book taste, who can cook and with decent music taste, and Sam gets the looks and the brooding. I mean, he’s definitely gaining more.”

For a moment, Robb’s brain goes into a sort of short-circuit.

He can’t have heard -

“Never mind that Jon cooks better than about anyone in my household bar my mother, have you just said he’s _hot_?”

Theon shrugs. “Your brother is all doom and gloom and definitely annoying as hell and listens to the most dramatic music in existence and I couldn’t even _begin_ to think of dating him, but he’s not _bad looking_. If you’re into the dark and broody aesthetic, sure.”

“… Are you saying this _objectively_ or, like, are you implying you’re fishing on both sides of the pond right now?”

At _that_ , Theon _seems_ to realize he might have said something he hadn’t exactly meant to.

“Uhm, both, actually.”

Robb kills down the instinct of asking, _and why haven’t you ever told me?_

Instead, he fakes being… well, _not_ touched by that admission. More or less. “Well, you don’t have to look ashamed of it?”

“I - I know, it’s just, I haven’t really told anyone yet. It’s just - you know, when I had _that thing_ with Ramsay Bolton, I was - I was experimenting. I mean, I hadn’t quite figured out if I _really_ was also attracted to guys and when he made a move I went with it because I figured, why not.”

“Let me tell you, you picked the _worst_ if you just wanted to figure things out,” Robb tries to joke, and he doesn’t know if it’s funny or not but Theon _does_ laugh and after they broke it off he would only discuss the thing in horrid puns, so he knows that at least he won’t get punched in the face for not being sensitive enough.

“Don’t I know that,” Theon sighs. “Anyway, given that I know how my father and brothers and like, the entire Greyjoy side of the family would have taken it, I just figured I’d quit experimenting for the moment.”

“… Fair,” Robb admits, “no one can blame you for that.”

“Thanks,” Theon deadpans, “at least you understand my plight. Anyway, it’s been years. And I haven’t stopped finding guys attractive, so I suppose denying it is useless. Which is why I can safely admit that your brother’s not _bad looking_ but Sam can have him, he’d be too high-maintenance.”

“He’s less high-maintenance than you’d think, but good thing you won’t be what breaks them up.”

“As if _anything_ could break them up given that they’ve been making moony eyes at each other for years. Tooth-rotting, honestly.”

Thing is, you can hear he’s joking, so Robb doesn’t try to argue that case any longer, especially because those two _always_ were teeth-rotting in that sense and if he’s a tiny bit jealous, no one needs to know.

Never mind that given how also Jeyne and Sansa look _equally_ teeth-rotting whenever he runs into them at home, at this point he’s just resigning himself to being surrounded by horribly sweet pairs while he wonders if he’ll ever get over his own feelings.

Then he steals a glance at Theon and _no_ , he knows he’s not.

 _Maybe I could tell him_ , he thinks, especially since Theon’s just told him that he _is_ into guys for good or bad, but - he said he knows he’s into them. He’s _never_ said he wants a relationship with one.

Better that he doesn’t ruin this.

 

3.

 

“Uh, Robb, can I talk to you for a moment?”

The last thing he was expecting was _Jeyne_ to come up to him at Sansa’s Christmas party, especially when she could be snuggling on the sofa with his sister. Except that Sansa’s off spending the obligatory ten minutes entertaining their cousin - because she’s the only one of them that his aunt’s son doesn’t obligatorily _hate_ somehow.

“Sure,” he says. “Can I help you?”

“Not really,” she replies. “It’s just - damn, I did tell Theon I wouldn’t tell _you_ , but - like, you know that we hang out sometimes.”

“I do? Is there a problem?”

“Er, well, not a _problem_ , but since Sansa and I are a thing he just - he kind of seemed to sulk a bit when we mentioned the topic. And since _Jon_ got together with Sam he’s been sulking even more, so I might have asked him what was wrong, and he said nothing.”

“Typical,” Robb groans.

“ _Exactly_ ,” Jeyne echoes, “but I might have insisted. And - he didn’t, you know, _say_ anything outright, _but_ \- Robb, I think he’s into you.”

For a moment, Robb wants to laugh. “He’s _not_ ,” he says.

“Well, why the hell would he mutter something about people being lucky their _best friends_ aren’t completely oblivious and absolutely straight and therefore not interested before making me swear I wouldn’t tell you?”

 _The hell_. “Jeyne, I’m sure -”

“Er, sorry to butt in, but I think she’s right?”

Robb turns towards Sam, who had also been attending and was near them drinking his Coke while Jon’s on the phone with his aunt, who’s the only one on his father’s side of the family who actually calls when any of them has a birthday. So Dany talked to Sansa first but then went back on the phone with Jon and she’s most probably commiserating with him about how horrible their grandfather is and how her brother is annoying, so it’s going to be a long while yet given that usually their commiserating sessions take one full hour.

“Uh, _how_?” Robb asks.

“I mean, it’s not that we know each other or anything but like, he’s been sending me and Jon weird looks for the entire afternoon and at some point I did ask him if something was wrong and he said that we’d send him to the dentist for how terribly sugary we were being, and then a few other sarcastic things I forgot, but then he said something about having figured shit out too late and then he finished his beer and told me to go enjoy myself because _some_ people do have luck and their best friends forever like them back, and a few other things, but _that_ was concerned you.”

“See,” Jeyne says, looking overjoyed that she found an ally, “it’s not _me_ seeing things. And I mean, it’s fine if you’re not into him, but at this point maybe you should just tell him because it’s not healthy, and -”

“Sam,” Robb interrupts her, feeling bad for the rudeness but suddenly realizing that he might have been a colossal idiot all along - because what Sam said was _obvious_ and it can’t be referring to anyone else -, “ _where_ did you say you saw him last?”

“He was on the balcony. With more beer. Not enough to do anything stupid, but you know. You might want to get him inside.”

 _Right_.

“Thank you both,” he says, grabbing his jacket.

“Robb, just let him down gently if -” Jeyne starts, and Robb has to laugh at that.

“Jeyne, I’ve been into him _since Ramsay Bolton_ , I don’t think the point here is _letting him down_. But thanks for sticking up for him, the more people do the better,” he says, meaning it entirely, and then he puts on his jacket and runs off to the balcony, where Theon is in fact nursing another beer bottle, and he’s halfway into it from how it looks like.

“It’s fucking cold,” Robb says. “Why are you freezing your hands out here?”

Theon shrugs, not looking at him. “I needed a moment.”

He doesn’t say _from what_.

“From my siblings all being horribly mushy with _their_ best friends?”

At that, Theon almost visibly drops the beer and does turn to look at him as if he wasn’t expecting _that_.

“What -”

“Chill,” Robb says, “I’d have never gotten as far as that if Jeyne hadn’t hinted it. And if _Sam_ hadn’t been there to confirm it.”

“Fuck, I told her to -”

“Don’t,” Robb says, and he thinks of how should he time this, or if he should at all, and then decides that he’s been waiting for _years_ and he can’t care less, and so he moves his warm hand on top of Theon’s freezing one. “She did the right thing. Because there’s really nothing I’d like more than being horribly mushy with _you_ , all things considered.”

Theon’s eyes go so wide at that, Robb doesn’t know whether to laugh or not. How _oblivious_ could they be?

“ _Sorry_?”

“Case is,” Robb goes on, “I realized I was into you while you were _experimenting_ with that piece of shit, and obviously I _didn’t_ try to do anything about it after, also because it looked like you were done with men for the time being at least. And then - I just figured you weren’t interested in _that_ sense.”

“Since Bolton - _shit_ ,” Theon says, not quite looking at him. “Then again, can’t blame you. I mean, I tried not to be.”

“What, _into me_?”

Theon shrugs, still not looking at him but not moving his hand from under Robb’s. “I didn’t _want_ to be. Robb, fuck’s sake, you’ve only ever been with women, I thought you were straight, do you think I wanted to fuck up the only good relationship with anyone I’m not related to I had going on, never mind that I don’t have fucked up relationships with _three_ people I’m related to and it’s not like my sister is a good model for _functional_ relationships, anyway? Come on. Never mind that everyone but her, my mom and my uncle hates the shit out of you, so I wasn’t going to ruin it _and_ risk those assholes finding out we were actually dating when my father barely tolerates that we’re _friends_.”

“So that’s why you, uh, didn’t seem interested whatsoever? Shit, you _can_ act, you know?”

“Thank you,” Theon snorts, “but anyway, until a few months ago it was fine enough, then any time I was at your place I’d see either Jeyne and Sansa being a thing _or_ your brother and Sam being a thing _and_ I’d get horribly angry because _they_ got their shit sorted and _I_ hadn’t and I really couldn’t pretend I _wasn’t_ into you. Because I’d think about doing with you the things _they_ do together and honest, do we have to go on? Because I want to die of embarrassment already.”

“No,” Robb says, “but I think we have a lot of lost time to make up for.”

“What -”

“Haven’t you heard,” Robb goes on, feeling almost giddy, grabbing at Theon’s other wrist so that he puts the beer back on the ground and has to pay attention to _him_ , “anything I’ve said before you went on your rant? And by the way, do you know why my relationships with women never worked out?”

“Why?” Theon asks, his voice barely audible.

“Because, _they weren’t you_. And I’m still friends with Jeyne because she figured that out in three weeks and she called me out on it and we parted on good terms, and I guess I can tell her our agreement isn’t a thing anymore.”

“Wait, your _agreement_?”

Robb laughs. “We had one that by the time we were thirty, if neither of us had found _their_ person we’d just get friend-married in order to get the benefits and not spending our lives on our sad own. And I think that it’s not the case with me anymore.”

And then be leans forward and kisses Theon before this can get even more embarrassing _or_ Theon starts protesting and says that maybe they shouldn’t be doing this because honestly, _no_ , he’s waited for too long.

Theon’s lips are freezing, unsurprisingly, but Robb can’t give a damn, not really, and he moves his hands behind Theon’s head pressing closer, and Theon’s mouth parts under his own without hesitation, their tongues meeting in a slow, sweet kiss that makes Robb’s spine shiver in all the good ways. He can faintly taste some of that beer as his tongue runs over Theon’s lips but it’s fine - he doesn’t mind it at all. When Theon moans a little into his mouth, his cold hands grasping at Robb’s hair, he kisses him a bit harder, and then he leans back for a moment to breathe in before leaning forward again, swallowing another moan going from Theon’s mouth into his, and by the time they have to both part to breathe in they end up with their foreheads touching, his hand still cupping Theon’s cold cheek.

“Wow,” Theon says, moving back, “you _really_ did mean it.”

“Sure I did.”

“Well, you can tell Jeyne that if she’s not found her soulmate or whatever we can always rent her a room, she’s cool with me.”

“She’ll be delighted to hear it, but I think I’m not done with _this_ ,” Robb says, and leans in to kiss him again, and again, and he greatly enjoys how Theon moans softly into his mouth and how his cold lips are getting progressively warmer as they kiss, and then he realizes he’s fucking freezing and Theon’s not that better off, especially since at least Robb went out in a heavy jacket and he didn’t.

“Just let’s back inside and start to catch up on the horribly mushy stuff, how about that?”

“I can live with it,” Theon says, and then he freezes and sends a panicked look towards the door. “Er, does that mean we should tell everyone _now_? Because maybe -”

“Theon, you’ve heard about how it went with Sansa, you’ve heard about how it went with Jon, who by the way fessed up to Sam following _my_ bullet point list of what I’d have done if I ever wanted to fess up to you properly, and you think they’d have a problem?”

“Wait, _what_ was your plan?”

Robb shrugs. “Paying your ticket for whatever indie movie you wanted to see, having dinner at that fancy Japanese/thai fusion place you like, and telling you. More or less. It also included a ticket to whatever play you might like that’d be on stage at the time I did it.”

“Charming. Maybe we should do that some time soon.”

“Sure we can,” Robb smiles, their fingers threading together, and then he drags Theon back inside, and it’s probably a good thing Theon completely forgot about the beer.

He closes the French door leading to the balcony, and then he realizes that they must have been out for a while because the entire family bar Jon who’s still on the phone in the other room, plus Sam and Jeyne plus their cousin plus their aunt - who looks like she’s kind of constipated but won’t say outright - plus a few of Sansa’s friends who weren’t in Margaery Tyrell’s crowd - are standing in front of them and they probably saw the entire scene.

Ah, damn.

“Er,” he says, “I suppose there’s no need to make announcements, right?”

For a moment, no one says anything.

Then -

“Robb, darling, why do you think I said I had _three_ children left that might give me grandchildren and not _four_? Unless you adopt, I guess, but he doesn’t strike me as the type right now,” his mother says, and _what the hell, did they know already_?

“It was obvious,” Arya says. “The three of you, you’re so _boring_ in your choices. One could see it a mile away.”

“Is it the month where everyone starts dating?” Rickon says, not sounding at all impressed with any of them. Bran echoes the sentiment somewhat less dismissively and everyone else is laughing except Robb’s aunt, and then -

“So,” Sansa says, looking _delighted_ , “does that mean we can go on _triple_ dates now?”

… Right, because they _did_ go on double dates, she and Jon and respective partners.

“… I suppose so?” Robb says, not wanting to curb her enthusiasm.

“I guess why not,” Theon tentatively offers, and then -

“Wait, _what_ triple dates?” Jon asks, walking into the room and having obviously missed the entire shebang.

“Robb just figured things out,” Sansa replies amiably, putting an arm around his shoulders.

“Wait, _finally_? Christ, guys, took you long enough. Guess that I can handle the triple date, too bad I missed the show.”

“Traitor,” Robb says without meaning it. “Now, can we all just - go back to whatever we were doing, _thank you_?”

Thankfully everyone else gets the message and they scream, leaving them free to occupy the nearest sofa and let out a long, relieved breath.

“We’re not doing this kind of thing in public anymore,” Theon says.

“ _Definitely not_ ,” he agrees at once, and then Theon shudders visibly - he’s still a block of ice.

Robb shakes his head, takes off his jacket and hands it over.

“What -”

“Put it on, you’re freezing.”

“But -”

“We need to make up for lost time in the mush department, don’t we?”

“… Fair,” Theon says, halfway smiling, and he puts Robb’s jacket on, and Robb has larger shoulders so it’s a bit too big on him, but it does seem to do its job because he kind of snuggles inside it and Robb feels not so inexplicably turned on at the sight - damn it but Theon wearing his clothes is _hot_ , and right, _now_ is not the time, but - soon.

“Hey,” he says, “you _do_ know I had a list of things I wanted to do with you that I thought I’d never get to try?”

“Is undressing me while I’m wearing your clothes one of them?”

“Am I _that_ obvious?”

“Now that I’m not lying to myself about it being impossible, _yes_ , you are.”

“Well, there was that, but I think I might have to settle for a more appropriate item all things considered.”

“Such as?”

“Kissing the shit out of you while you’re wearing my clothes,” he replies, and then leans in again, his hands going to Theon’s cold face and Theon’s moving under his shirt, and Robb doesn’t even care that the sudden cold almost makes him jump in surprise - he just goes for it and kisses Theon again, taking his time and who cares about who’s watching, and when he hears Jon screaming at him to get a room while Sansa tells him not to, they’re _so cute_ after all, he proceeds on ignoring the both of them. He has better things to do, and from the way Theon’s kissing him back with _a lot_ of enthusiasm he entirely agrees with him.

They will _definitely_ get a room.

Just not right now.

 

 

End.


End file.
